The best part of our weekend trips is how surprisingly enjoyable they always turn out to be. I'm in favor of scheduling my free time to be as educational and productive as possible. 8:00 yoga class on a Saturday? I'm there! 9:00 AM Sunday community gardening? Sounds great! But after a full week of classes and homework in temperatures easily in the triple digits (I think around 11o or so most days) 9:30 am weekend class trips up windy mountain roads don't sound as nice as the beach or my air conditioned beach front bungalow. However, I am always incredibly glad to have gone once our trips begin, and yesterday's visit to the Dimcayi was no exception.
We went spelunking! I love exploring caves! I forgot my camera, but I may find some pictures to post. We also swam in a cool river. I swung from a hanging tree rope. On my first attempt, I face planted into the water bringing back fond memories of summers learning to ski and failing, over and over, and over again with nosefulls of water each time, as my dad turned the boat around and let me try again. I got it on my second try this time, which means my upper body has gotten much stronger!
The best part of yesterday was reading the Turkish news over our lunch of fresh-caught trout. (I was actually reading the style section, and I'm pleasantly surprised to discover wide belts and "spanish" wide-legged pants are the must-have for fall...um...I only own pants that congeal to my ankles.) I'm as excited to learn to read Turkish as I was to learn to read English 20 or so years ago. It's opening a whole new way of understanding and engaging in language to me. Turkish is quite difficult, but I am impressed with how much I've been exposed to in just 8 weeks. We've covered an entire year's worth of material, and I'll start in intermediate Turkish in DC this fall. I have a ways to go before I'm fully proficient, but I'm incredibly grateful for how much I've been able to learn this summer.
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